Santa’s scribe: Exchange Club helps out Old St. Nick

Richard Megherby, one of Santa Claus’s trusted assistants, helps answer children’s letters to Santa that were mailed through Santa’s Mailbox at the Exchange Club of New Canaan’s annual Christmas tree sale at Kiwanis Park, for 11 years. (Julie Butler photo)

If a child wants Santa Claus to know what he or she would like for Christmas, they usually need to put pen to paper. And, if they’re really lucky, Santa will also put pen to paper and write them back, so that they know he received their special list of wishes.

For 11 years, Richard Megherby of New Canaan — a member of the Exchange Club of New Canaan — put on his Santa cap each holiday season and answered hundreds of the letters to Santa that the hopeful would leave in the mailbox the club has set up at Kiwanis Park, which they transform into a Christmas tree sales lot every December.

“I had a lot of fun reading them,” Megherby said of his role in helping the real Santa answer children’s letters. “I felt such joy … the joy of being a kid. And I also thought, ‘Gee, it’s nice to be Santa!’”

Megherby was especially tickled hearing from other parents about the children’s reactions to the letters he (rather, “Santa,”) wrote to them.

“They would tell me that their kid would be jumping up and down, squealing, ‘Santa sent me a letter! Santa sent me a letter!’”

To Megherby, his role as Santa’s helper in responding to the tiny letter writers kept the spirit of Santa Claus alive.

“It’s nice to keep the spirit alive,” he said, “because Santa is a spirit. He and Christmas are the state and spirit of giving and love.”

The average number of letters sent to Santa via the Exchange Club’s mailbox (which is also set up at New Canaan Library) is between 200 and 250 a year; Megherby said that the highest amount he received during his tenure was 300 one year.

The club’s “Letters to Santa” program has been going on for 50 years now.

Megherby told the Advertiser that he — as Santa — wouldn’t necessarily promise a specific toy asked for would indeed be received. Instead, he would tell the child that “my elves and I are trying the best we can.”

On occasion, however, he could make an exception, such as when the child making a request was that of a fellow Exchange Club member.

“Then I knew it was a ‘gift accompli,’” he laughed.

This was also the case when his son, Christian, now 16, was younger and wrote a letter to the big guy dressed in red fur.

“He was so thrilled to get a letter back from Santa,” Megherby said. “The joy and happiness on his face was wonderful. He was saying to his mom and I, ‘Santa said I’m going to get everything I asked for!’ It was the only time I could promise that in a return letter.”

Christmas wishes

Not all the letter writers ask for toys.

“One kid, who was about 10 years old, wrote to tell Santa that, ‘I don’t need any toys this year. In fact, I already have a lot, so if you want to pick some up, let me know and I will leave them for you,’” Megherby said.

Another boy wrote, “You must have a lot of kids and your elves must have a lot of kids, too, so if you have any leftover toys for us or the kids in Mexico, that would be great.”

And then there was a heartbreaking request, he said, when a child wrote to say, “Mom and dad don’t get along, so maybe you could find a boyfriend for my mom.”

“I answered that Santa doesn’t give people to people; Santa gives joy, and so I will wish that for your mom,” Megherby said.

Not all of the letters written can be answered, only the ones that include a return address, or those from kids who enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Megherby used parchment paper to write his computer-generated responses on — using a special script font — which included a Christmas motif and Santa design.

“For years, Santa would handwrite responses,” he said, “but Santa needs to be up-to-date, so getting a letter written on the computer these days probably doesn’t raise an eyebrow.”

Megherby hung up his Santa stocking cap this year “because I wanted to get back out on the lot,” he said, “selling trees and being a different kind of Santa. And, I wanted to let others enjoy the ‘gift of child.’”

Exchange Club member Richard Cole is now experiencing that “gift of child.”

“I believe that goodness is always alive,” Megherby said. “I tried to convey that to every child. In each letter, I would say, ‘Be good to your parents, your friends, your teachers. It’s good to be good. A life of good is good for the world. And this world, is your world.’”

And then he would add: “Santa loves you and knows about you, because I see you all year ‘round.”